12/31/2007 4:01:43 PM

As a person who sells the HD-DVD and Blu-ray products, I personally believe that there will never be a winner in this format war. What will more than likely become the norm, are Hi-Definition players that will play both formats, ala the "-" and "+" formats for recordable DVD. A couple things will need to happen before Hi-Definition DVD (either format) becomes even mainstream, much less a household product:

1. The computer industry must make the drive(s) standard in all new desktops and laptops
2. Recordable Blu-Ray/HD-DVD must become available and affordable (Around $1,000+ right now)
3. The price of HD-DVD and Blu-ray disks need to drop from $24.99-$34.99 down to the affordable $14.99-$19.99 range

Having said that, I believe that that Downloadable Content and integration into personal Home Theater will become prevalent prior to either of these formats becomes standard. With hard drives drives getting smaller and bigger and broadband speeds becoming faster, it is only a matter of time before the studios realize that DLC is their meal ticket just like the music industry. Just ask Microsoft, as their Xbox Live Video Marketplace appears to be a hit.

There are many different reasons and perspectives that could alter the destiny of these two formats or DLC, but I wont get into them here. I'm looking forward to seeing the technology at CES and what promises lie ahead for its immediate future...

dkeener

12/31/2007 10:44:06 PM

Now THIS is the way to start a blog post! Chuck, from now on you should start all of your posts by stating that I'm right.

Dan, I agree that the hybrid units will probably become the norm ... but in order for that to happen they need to come down in price. Last time I checked (and, to be fair, I haven't checked for a couple of months) the LG hybrid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray DVD player sold for around $1000. Not only is that too much, but it's also more expensive than buying one of each stand alone players. Eventually these will go down in price, but I still think that this war is ultimately going to turn a majority of the people off.

I am the kind of person who adopts stuff early, that's just my M.O. I buy just about every console on launch (or within a month of launch). Heck, I bought my first DVD player within six months of the launch. Yet I am utterly disgusted by this format war. If I'm turned off by this, I have to figure that there are a lot of people a lot less hardcore that have also thrown in the towel for now.

Dan is also right about the price of the films. I'm a movie collector, I own more than 1,200 DVDs. Yet I cringe at the idea of paying $30+ for a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD. I'm fine paying that much for a Criterion Collection DVD, but I'm not buying Transformers for $35! I don't care how good it looks.

It seems like all of this could have been averted had one or two of those companies just asked the consumers if they wanted this. They would have realized that the majority of the people don't want it ... not yet at least. This probably could work, but it would have been better if they had released this stuff a few years in the future.

Cyril Lachel